I hate admitting I was wrong. Like, really, really hate it. So, I won't. Instead, I will say the doctor was right. *partially* I don't have to tell him that, do I? Actually, yes. I do. We have an appointment I don't remember when, hopefully I wrote it down but it's 6 weeks from the last appointment. In this appointment, I have to tell him what I have done to implement a sort of BIP for the Goofy child and how it's going so far.
and so far, this is what happened... apocalyptic chaos from the legion of evil. Serious. Not one thing changed, not one kid got a prize, not one rule went unbroken. Even now, right this minute, the Goofy child is bouncing off the walls and not even trying to listen much less obey. and his irritating behavior is not "bad", just annoying so it doesn't warrant time-out. Pretty much, tweaking the homeschooling system, not working.
Then I figured out why. I was reading the papers he gave me about the point system or something, I can't remember what it was called but I left the papers in my car which Big Daddy took to work because I've been trying to talk to him about it for 2 days and he won't be still and listen. I thought today would be a good day to talk to him about it but madness and mayhem. You know, the usual. Anyway, I was reading the papers he gave me and it dawned on me that the homeschooling system is not working because it was designed and used for short hours, not full day. So, he's right in the fact that we need a reward system. tickets and such.
and so...
Daily prize is a piece of candy (I'm not liking it.) for 10 tickets each.
10 tickets/day is still saving 14 tickets/day to use toward...
A weekly prize of a toy they can buy for 75 tickets each.
which leaves 93 tickets/month in savings.
which means they will have to do something extra as far as chores or nice things to earn an extra 7 tickets to pay for a monthly treat. and since it may take them a while to understand that, it means I don't have to figure out what could be an awesome treat to cost 100 tickets/ month. The only thing that I can think of is fishing and feeding the ducks. but it's bad enough I have sunk to monetary type bribes, do I really want them to have to pay for adult attention?
But no matter who says what, I still insist my time out is just freaking fine, damnit!!!
What I don't understand is this is not my first ADHD child, why have I never had quite this much trouble getting a brat to behave?
and so far, this is what happened... apocalyptic chaos from the legion of evil. Serious. Not one thing changed, not one kid got a prize, not one rule went unbroken. Even now, right this minute, the Goofy child is bouncing off the walls and not even trying to listen much less obey. and his irritating behavior is not "bad", just annoying so it doesn't warrant time-out. Pretty much, tweaking the homeschooling system, not working.
Then I figured out why. I was reading the papers he gave me about the point system or something, I can't remember what it was called but I left the papers in my car which Big Daddy took to work because I've been trying to talk to him about it for 2 days and he won't be still and listen. I thought today would be a good day to talk to him about it but madness and mayhem. You know, the usual. Anyway, I was reading the papers he gave me and it dawned on me that the homeschooling system is not working because it was designed and used for short hours, not full day. So, he's right in the fact that we need a reward system. tickets and such.
and so...
10 tickets/day is still saving 14 tickets/day to use toward...
A weekly prize of a toy they can buy for 75 tickets each.
which leaves 93 tickets/month in savings.
which means they will have to do something extra as far as chores or nice things to earn an extra 7 tickets to pay for a monthly treat. and since it may take them a while to understand that, it means I don't have to figure out what could be an awesome treat to cost 100 tickets/ month. The only thing that I can think of is fishing and feeding the ducks. but it's bad enough I have sunk to monetary type bribes, do I really want them to have to pay for adult attention?
But no matter who says what, I still insist my time out is just freaking fine, damnit!!!
What I don't understand is this is not my first ADHD child, why have I never had quite this much trouble getting a brat to behave?
Every child with ADHD is different. Everyone has different trigger points and different co-morbilities. even if you had triplets what works for one might not for others. ADHD is frustrating. how can you expect a reward system to work when the child is so busy bouncing of things that they can't don't think. Re tweek the system. but above all don't dispair. our son is now 13 and he is a human being and at 3 or 4 or 5 yrs old I didn't think any of us would survive that long.Not going to lie, its still hard work but you know if you keep going one day suddenly out of the blue they have got it.
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